Rapid winder for victrolas, &amp;c.



B. s. KRAMER.

RAPID WINDEB FOR \HCTROLAS, lac. APPLICATION min APR. 22. 1916.

1,249,775, Patented Dec. 11,1917.

III/IIIIII 8 m ue nffoz Z :ratio of the reducing. gear, p i

and length of stroke convemently attainable to. pa r f g BENJAMIN G. KRAMER, 0F ANDERSON, INDIANA.

' narrn wmmin ron VICTROLAS, 8w.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Dec. 11, 1917.

Application filed Aprl122, 1916. Serial No. 92,834.

In To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN G. KRA- Man, acitizen of the resident of Anderson, in the county of Madand State of Indiana, have invented certain ,new and useful Improvements in Rapid WVinders for Victrolas, &c., of which the following is aspecification.

My present invention comprises means 10 whereby a victrola or similar instrument may be wound by one or two strokes of a pivoted member, preferably a pedal. In the preferred embodiment, 1t adapted for ready" attachment to a victrola, in place of,

1 5,, .and as a substitute for, the usual hand crank customarily provided for winding purposes.

"Many turns of'the ordinary'hand crank are required to wind the ordinary v1ctrola, say to 30. In order to perform 2q this function by one or two reciprocati-ons,

in accordance wlth my present invention,

Lemploy revolutionreducing gearing with corresponding multiplication of the power requiredto operate it and I proportion the so that the power byithe edal are coiirdina'ted to the number ot'v revo utions and the'spring resistance of the winding shaft.

I accomplish this by having the gearing reduce the W1 ding shaft motion from say 20 revolutions down to say, five revolutions at the power shaft and give the latter its required number "of revolutions through a 8,5 winding drum and cord connected to the pedal.

I- prefer to reduce from 20 to about 10 revolutions on the first pair ofgears, then from 10 to about 5 revolutions on a. second and' t'hen give the latter its 5 revolutions by unwinding 5 turns f cord on a winding drum .of about the same d1- ameter as the gear driven thereby. By such arrangement the strain on the drum shaft 4:51 is only one fifth what it would be with a gear train ratio adaptedto reduce-the revolutionsfrom-QO down to 1'. Moreover, the strain is greatest on pinionshaft', which can bemade the shortest, and least'on the drum shaft must'be relatively long.

By arrai'i'gingthe reducing gears a train haifirigtheir 'air'es the same stralght line, theincl'osi ig 'Willliave along base ofiattaclnnentti)" i the United States, and

v'fictrolal casd'in the line ,d'a'l operated cord and hence the gear case will be less likely to be torn loose.

With reducing gear of the above ratio a winding drum with say 5 turns of cord may be provided without bringing the line of draft of the cord too far away from the plane of attachment of the gear case to the victrola. Moreover, the drum may be made of considerable diameter without necessitating a pedal throw greater than would be convenient for the operator.

The winding drum is preferably shiftable on. its shaft and provided with a coil spring which performs the double function of pushing endwise to throw the ratchet into driving engagement with the gear train and also of twisting and untwisting circumferentially to permit unwinding of the drum by pedal draft on the cord, and re winding of the cord and retracting of the pedal when the pressure on the latter is removed.

I thus provide a device in wliich the'permissible amplitude of pedal stroke is utilized effectively in that the strain on the cord is not too great and is applied near the plane of the base of the casing, and the 7 -by a winding drum having 20 turns, mounted directly on an extension of the winding shaft, but such winding drum would have 4 times the number of turnsfound in my winding drum, would be necessarily 4 times as wide and project 4 times as far from the side of, the case.v Moreover in order to give 20 turns of the winding shaft, with the same stroke of pedal, the diameter of the drum would have to be one quarter" the diaineterof my drum, and, necessarily the transverse strain would be four timesfas great. a

The above and other features and advantages of my invention will be smear-11 understood from the followingfdescription in connection with the accompanying draw .ings, in which Figure 1 15 an end elevation of a victrola showing my invention applied thereto,

Fig; .2 is a vertical sectional 'view' in the .vertical plane of the reducing gear, and

'Fig. 3 is a face view of the reducing gear on the, line 3:3 of Fig. 2.

The cabinet 1 contains the phonograph, talking machine or similar devlce provi ed with a sprmg motor which is to be periodicall rewound. The casin 2 contains the reducing gear and means roperating it through the cord 3, which is adapted to be pulled by depressing the pedal 4, pivoted at 5. v

The winding shaft 6 within the cabinet 1 is provided with the usual reduced screw threaded stud 7 upon which it is now customary to screw the ordinary Winding crank. My attachment includes a shaft 8 having a screw threaded recess of the same size and pitch as the threads of the stud '7 whereby it is adapted tobe screwed on to the latter. The other end of the shaft 8' projects through the case 2 and is provided with a. slot 9 or equivalent recess adapted to be engaged by a screw driver or similar device for screwing said shaft tightly upon the stud 7. The shaft 8 is supported in a closed casing comprising the base plate 10 and a cover plate 2 by means of ball bearings 12 and 13.

The shaft carries a gear pinion 14 meshing with gear 15 on shaft 16. A pinion 17 is rigidly secured to the gear 15 by a suitable means such as pins 18. This pinion meshes with gear 19 on shaft 20. All of these gears are preferably keyed to their respective shafts as indicated. The shafts are located in the same straight line so that the base plate 10 bears upon the casing 1 over an area which is considerably longer than its width. Moreover, the transverse driving stress on 15 and 17 are equal and substantially opposite, so that they are practically balanced on shaft 16. The gear 19 is provided with a face ratchet 21 engaged by an endwise movable ratchet 22 which is normally spring pressed toward it by spiral spring 23. The ratchet referred to is integral with the winding drum 24 on which is wound a cord, wire or other flexible draft member 3. The spring 23in addition to its function of continu ousl pressing the ratchet 22 into engagement wit 1 21 is adapted to automatically rewind the drum, its ends 26, 27 being secured, respectively, to the stationary cover 2, and to t e rotary winding drum 24. Y

The cord is led out of the casing through slot 27 and is secured to thefoot lever 4:15 at 28. a

"In operation, the parts bein in the position shown in Fig.2, the peda is depressed and pulls cord 3 which rotatesd-rum 24. The latter being continuously pressed toward the ratchet 21, by spring 23 drives gear 19.. This in turn drives inion'18, gear 15, pinion 14 and shaft 8. pon 're'lease'of pressure on the pedal, the spring 23 which has been wound up by unwinding of the cord 3' rotates the drum 24 in the reverse-direction rewinding the cord3 and lifting the pedal 4.

The shaft 8 and the gear trainiconnected' thereto remain stationary during this rewinding operation, being held by the ordinary detent mechanism associated with wind- 1n%shaft 6, within the victrola. 1

y inspection of'the ratio of teeth on plnion 14, gear 15, pinion 17 and gear 19, 1t Wlll be seen that the rotation reducing ratio is- 4 to 1, so that shaft 8 revolves 4 times for one revolution of shaft 20. As

there are 5 turns of the cord 3 on drum 24 change of the record willbe sufiicient for ordinary purposes and even if the device does become fully unwound, it can be restored by less than two full strokes of the pedal.

lV-hen the device is to be applied to an ordinary victrolaprovided with the usual winding crank, the crank-is unscrewed, shaft 8 is inserted and screwed on to the stud 7 by a screw-driver or other implement engaging the other end of the shaft at 9. The casing is then screwed to the cabinet by screws 30 and the pedal by pivot 5.

It Will be obvious that certain departures from the precise ratios above described will be within the spirit of my invention, but for victrola winding it will-be found that the revolution-reducing should be one-half to 'seven-eighths completed by the gearing and that the winding drum or equivalent should have, say three to six revolutions for a single number of elements by which the revolution reduction is. accomplished.

, I claim:

1. A winding attachment for victrolas comprising a casing, .a shaft projecting through both sides of said casing, said shaft being provided at one endwith a screw I threaded recess-adapted to fit astandard thread of a victrola winding shaft and the other end formed for engagement with arotating tool, means forrotatingsaid shaft comprising reducing gearing, a windingdrum and acne-way driving connection be.-

tween said winding drum and reducing gear, a cord Wound upon said drum and antomatic means for'causing'reverse rotation of said drum torewind-said cord. I

2. A rewinding attachment for spring motor-operated nstruments, comprising a casing ada ted to be secured to the instrument, 3, p urality of parallel shafts onr naled in said cas1ng,,means for securing one of said shaftsto the motor winding shaft of the instrument, multiplying earing for transmltting power to said shaft from ana other of said shafts, a drum on said last mentionedshaft, one-way actingclutch connections betweensaid drum and said earing, a cord wound on said drum, a ever connected to said cord for rotating said drum to turn the motor Winding shaft through said clutch and gearing, and a spring normally tending to wind up said cord and tohold said clutch connections in operative engagement but permitting slipplng during the rewinding of the cord.

3. A rewinding attachment for spring motor-operated instruments, including a shaft adapted to be secured to the motor winding shaft; a second shaft, multiplying gearing between said shafts, a drum mounted on said second mentioned shaft and axially movable in respect thereto, clutch connect ons between sa d drum and said gearthe instrument, a shaft adapted to be attached to the winding shaft of the instrument and journaled in opposite walls of said casing, a pinion thereon, a second shaft journaled in the opposite walls of saidcas} ing and having a gear meshing with said pinion and a pinion rigid with said gear, a third shaft also journaled inthe opposite walls, of said casing and having a gear meshing with said last mentioned pinion, a drum on said last mentioned shaft and rotatable in respect thereto, a cord on Said drum adapted to rotate the latter when pulled, and automatically acting one-way clutch connections between said drum and said last mentioned gear.

5. In combination, a spring motor-oper- .ated musical instrument having a case, a

gear casing secured thereto, multiplying gearing within said casing, a drum wlthm said casing, a lever plvotally mounted on said case independent of said casing, a cord Wound on said drum' and connected to said lever, whereby upon the movement of said lever in one direction said drum is rotated,

a spring for rotating said drum in the opposite direction, and one-way automaticallyactlng clutch connections between said drum and said gearing.

Signed at Anderson, in the county of Madison and State of Indiana, this 19th day of April, A. D. 1916.

BENJAMIN G. KRAMER.

Witness:

HERBERT I. S'rou'r; 

